STC’s publication awards recognize outstanding content from STC’s Technical Communication journal and Intercom magazine and are awarded each year at the Technical Communication Summit & Expo Honors Event. This year’s awards were presented on 7 May at the 2019 Summit in Denver, Colorado.
This year’s selection for the Frank R. Smith Award for Outstanding Journal Article went to Jason Chew Kit Tham of University of Minnesota for his article “Interactivity in an Age of Immersive Media: Seven Dimensions for Wearable Technology, Internet of Things, and Technical Communication.”
The citation for his article reads: For a thorough review of definitions and characteristics of interactivity, and for establishing guidelines for design of effective user experiences in immersive environments. The author encourages technical communicators to focus on assuring seamless connections for devices, optimizing user control, developing context-sensitive and anticipatory user assistance, and developing tactile interactions.
The Intercom Outstanding Article and Outstanding Guest-Edited Issue awards were also awarded at this year’s Summit.
The award for Outstanding Magazine Article went to Jenifer Schlotfeldt and Courtney Bittner for their article “How Can You Leverage Data to Know You Have Effective Content?” in the September 2018 issue of Intercom.
The citation reads: For showing how IBM increased its focus on customer’s experiences with technical content and for distilling that case study into practical advice for improving content strategy.
The Intercom Outstanding Guest-Edited Issue award went to Mark Lewis for the September 2018 issue of Intercom with a theme of “The Value of Content.”
His citation reads: For engaging the complexities of measuring and articulating the value of technical content and offering practical yet innovative solutions for addressing this important issue within organizations.
